Barcelona showed that there’s life without Messi while Manchester United were unrecognizable against Juventus. Here’s the Champions League winners and losers
Winners
Borussia Dortmund
Scoring four goals against Atlético Madrid. Basically, impossible. Yet, it happened.
Dortmund dominated from beginning to end and grabbd the biggest result of the night, demolishing the Colchoneros in what was a fantastic team performance. Axel Witsel opened the game up with the first goal and provided a truly great performance.
Manchester City
A victory for the Citizens could have been predicted, but the way it came, with such ease, is a real masterclass. Last season City lost away to Shakhtar and this year Pep Guardiola’s team had lost the opening match against Lyon, so it really wasn’t that simple to go away from home and beat the Ukrainians. They did it, confirming their status as one of the main teams in the hunt for the final victory.
Barcelona
No Messi? No problem
Hoffenheim
Who doesn’t love a last minute equaliser? Hoffenheim and Lyon entertained themselves and everyone watching in a thrilling 3-3 draw. But it was the Germans who had the last laugh, scoring the equaliser with Joelinton on 92 minutes.
Napoli
A disappointing result after a very solid performance. Napoli could have won it, after dominating large chunks of the game in Paris, combining great tactical knowledge with attacking football. It wasn’t enough, but this remains a great result, looking forward to the rest of the group from a solid position.
Losers
Atlético Madrid
The exact opposite of what you expect from Diego Simeone’s team, famous for having one of the best defenses in the world.
The draw between Brugge and Monaco means Atlético remain five points clear in the group, and will most probably make it to the next round quite comfortably. But this kind of display in the 4-0 defeat to Borussia Dortmund will not take them far. Considering they were considered amongst favourites to win the competition, especially after the UEFA Super Cup victory over Real Madrid, this is a step back for the Colchoneros.
Manchester United
Never, ever, gave the impression of being able to get back in the game against Juventus. This kind of dominance by the visitors at Old Trafford is rare. Juventus are of course amongst the main favourites to win the Champions League, but José Mourinho and his men seemed too scared to even try and give the Bianconeri a hard time. It didn’t even look like it was Manchester United playing.
Valencia
Who would have thought that Young Boys could get a single point in this group? They managed it, though, against Valencia, who had the chance to reach United on four points, but didn’t take it. Their chances of making it to the round of 16 are severely hindered after this result.
Tottenham
Spurs “did a Spurs” once again. A late equaliser for PSV Eindhoven means Tottenham are now in a very difficult position to make it to the Round of 16. Spurs was the better side, but lacked the decisiveness to win it. Something Tottenham have to work on, and have had to for a while. But it might be too late for this Champions League campaign.
